EBT Abusers

[PW_Elle]

Now this one's not at my work but my husband's work...

My husband works at a gas station. Not the most glamorous job in the world, I know, but he has three reasons for working there:

1 - He is in college studying to be a youth minister so he can only work part time
2 - We only have one vehicle which I drive to work 40 minutes away, and this gas station is like two blocks from our house.
3 - We are poor newlyweds, and this gas station has medical insurance for its employees and their families.

Anyway, occasionally when he's working, I'll come there in the evenings and hang out for an hour or so if I'm bored or don't want to be home alone.

His biggest pet peeve, and mine too, are customers who use EBT for their purchases (that's like food stamps). Not that there's anything wrong with this - I know a lot of people who use EBT correctly and who buy food their families actually need from grocery stores.

Not at gas stations. EBT in this state can be used on ANY food product. Candy, soda, chips, you name it. Well, the other day, this SC came in the parking lot driving a Lexus. Not a brand new one, but a pretty nice one. This customer came in with their kid, and proceeded to buy the following items on EBT: A six-pack of Pepsi, a bag of chips, 6 candy bars, and a "Tummy Tickler" drink for their kid. So they spent, gas station prices, about 15 dollars. On EBT. Then, the customer goes outside, puts the stuff in the car, comes back in with a wad of cash, and proceeds to buy 50 dollars worth of scratcher tickets and a case of Heinekin. Now, for those of you who aren't beer people, Heini is one of the most expensive types of beer out there - especially at gas station prices.

I couldn't believe it. This customer, who is very obviously not poor, is buying beer and lottery tickets with cash while I pay for their junk food addiction??? Not even right.

Elle

[Becks]

Somehow, I don't see this one ending well...

Anyhoo, what kind of state allows THOSE kinds of items to be bought with FOOD STAMPS??????????????

[Ree]

Somehow, I don't see this one ending well...

These types of threads never end well around here.

Just a reminder to all that some of our members do use social assistance, or have done so in the past.

Please watch the generalizations. If you can't resist the urge to bash, then take it to http://www.fratching.com/showthread.php?p=334#post334

[Getoutofmylobby]

When i worked in Supermarketland, i usually had problems with the food stamp people. Not to group them into a sucky customer lump, or make broad insulting generalizations about the type of people who use government assistance (members of my family do), It was just the majority of people who used food stamps at my store usually tried to pull one over on us.

For example. There was the "Brach's Beer guy." Food stamps in Arkansas (and they were actual paper coupons then) could only be redeemed for food items, which excluded alcohol, tobacco, porn, motor oil, fake flowers... stuff you can't or wouldn't want to eat. This guy would use $1 stamps to buy an individual brach's candy... for like 5 cents each. Then use the change to buy whatever vice item he wanted, usually beer. We'd cringe when we'd see him coming because he insisted on paying for each candy individually and it would take a half hour sometimes to be done with him. The redneck managers at my store didn't do anything about it and actually thought it was funny.

And it kinda was. I mean he wasn't doing anything illegal, he just found a way around the system.

[Jester]

Okay, now I could honestly see someone who owned a Lexus for whatever reason having EBT cause something happened and they needed it. I could even see said person buying the crappy food mentioned in the OP for a number of reasons, even if they weren't the best reasons. But then to come back in with a wad of cash and buy a fairly expensive beer* and all those lottery tickets? No. No, no, no, no, and no. That is just wrong, and I just can't think of any way where such a situation could be justifiable.

Food stamps in Arkansas (and they were actual paper coupons then) could only be redeemed for food items, which excluded alcohol, tobacco, porn, motor oil, fake flowers... stuff you can't or wouldn't want to eat.

Um....beer is something I couldn't or wouldn't want to consume? Have you gone mad, man?


*Heineken is a somewhat expensive imported beer. I would not, however, call it one of the most expensive beers out there, as the OP did. Of course, I am a beer afficionado, and know that there are many, many beers that make Heineken look cheap by comparison. Of course, in a convenience store in Arkansas....Heineken probably is the top of the line. No offense meant, of course, but I just don't picture the average Arkansas convenience store customer sitting down to a cold frost Franziskaner.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

So lemme get this straight....

The person drove a Lexus...
paid for 15 bucks worth of junk food and soda with EBT...
and then bought 50 bucks worth of lottery tickets and expensive imported beer?

Abort, retry, fail?

I understand most people who use EBT are only on it temporarilly and use the assistance to feed their kids a proper diet, but it's galling to read about people buying all kinds of steaks, junk foods, and liquor with their food stamps while others are living on ramen noodles and PB&J and not getting assisstance.

[Retail Associate]

Anyhoo, what kind of state allows THOSE kinds of items to be bought with FOOD STAMPS??????????????

Michigan does. Some Michigan EBT users are even given a cash allowance. When I was cashiering many of them would get cash back and use it for beer, cigarettes or any non-food item.

[Arachne]

**beware, lotto rant ahead!**

There's actually a huge problem with people who can't afford to play the lotto blowing huge amounts of money on it. I've seen numbers that indicate that a sizable percentage of the money that goes into the lottery comes from people who really can't afford to lose that money. These people are generally people who are absolutely desperate, who've been living in fear of losing everything for a long time. They wind up suspending their reason to chase what amount to impossible dreams. The amount that some people dump into the lottery, if they'd just invest it instead, they'd eventually accumulate a sizable savings.

(And heaven forbid that they win. Winning the lottery is frequently way, way more trouble than it's worth. I've read about at least one lottery winner who committed suicide only a few years later.)

So I could see someone who couldn't afford to put $50 into lottery tickets doing just that. The beer, maybe that's another thing, but the lotto? Oh yeah. It's really sick and hypocritical that states that keep gambling illegal have no problem with a state lottery, when the lotto is arguably way, WAY more exploitive. At least with poker, you're arguably buying a little entertainment.

** okay, lotto rant over. **

[Becks]

Michigan does. Some Michigan EBT users are even given a cash allowance. When I was cashiering many of them would get cash back and use it for beer, cigarettes or any non-food item.

Oh. I see. I wonder how stores in WI react to the customers from the U.P. coming into their store...

(And heaven forbid that they win. Winning the lottery is frequently way, way more trouble than it's worth. I've read about at least one lottery winner who committed suicide only a few years later.)

Really? I only read about how they go broke within a few years, trips to shady strip clubs and getting robbed there notwithstanding.

[friendofjimmyk]

My husband works at a gas station. Not the most glamorous job in the world, I know, but he has three reasons for working there:

1 - He is in college studying to be a youth minister so he can only work part time
2 - We only have one vehicle which I drive to work 40 minutes away, and this gas station is like two blocks from our house.
3 - We are poor newlyweds, and this gas station has medical insurance for its employees and their families.

I can appreciate people who take jobs they don't see as "glamorous" because it pays the bills, has great benefits, and a schedule that is perfect for other life pursuits! I think it's a wonderful thing! I feel you or your husband need not explain your situation to anyone or feel as if you have to make excuses for why you do what you do. Who cares what others think!

[Simply Amazed]

Hey Jimmy. Would you mind taking my Lexus down to the store and get me some beer and lotto tickets?

Wow, I've never driven a Lexus before. Sure, I'll do it.

Thanks, I appreciate it. I've had a hard day at the office. I'm beat and I'd really like a cold one, heck, I'm sure you would too.

You betcha, I'll get Loretta and the kids. I'd bet they'd like to ride in style too. Things have been rough on us lately.

Are we sure that didn't happen?

Maybe the guy just got a promotion at work or a new job and they're celebrating using the last of the EBT they're going to need.

Maybe the cash was a birthday present and they had the food already covered for the month. Maybe someone had given them a freezerfull of meat from hunting and they didn't need to be so frugal this month.

Heck, not exactly kosher but maybe they'd bought the foodstamps from a friend who was $50 short of rent and was about to be evicted.

I can think of lots of things really. I guess it all boils down to how I think. I prefer to give the benefit of the doubt when there is no way I can know the truth.

It keeps my blood pressure down.

[workerbee222]

In our state, one can't buy liquor or tobacco, but candy, chips and soda? Yes, yes, and yes. Food for human consumption.

During my brief spell at WM, one food stamp recipient spent quite a few minutes trying to get a cashier to put ciggies on her food stamp EBT. Finally a CSM was called over to explain that no the cashier wasn't incompetent, you just can't buy cigarettes with food stamps.

WIC is another matter entirely. ANd yes, the state does provide additional funds that are suppposed to help with childrens' expenses. But that money isn't always spent that way. It made one of the CSMs, who had been on assistance at one point, fume when she saw abuses of the system.

[Getoutofmylobby]

Um....beer is something I couldn't or wouldn't want to consume? Have you gone mad, man?

I must have! Wow. An oversight like that is inexcusable.

I'll have to redeem myself by drinking mass quantities of beer tonight.

[uthdentroll]

one time i saw a lady held up the check out line for like 20 minutes
and when i saw her getting cash from her food stamps i was shock to even see that. thats my money (in a way) and shes supposed to use my money (in a way) to buy food. and she somehow could get cash back from it $384 total...
and i had seen this on tv. people buy foodstamps for 75 cents on a dollar from other people, and they used those money to buy drugs.
some of those people on food stamps are not actually poor... they are just pretending to be poor....

[Arachne]

From what I have read, the vast majority of people on food stamps are, in fact, living below the poverty line. But what we think of as 'poor' isn't always 'poor'. For example, many people I've talked to imagine that poor people should be buying bulk ingredients like rice and pasta and making their own food. In reality, many people who are living below the poverty line are working their butts off in really, really crummy jobs, coming home exhausted, and many of them don't have the childhood where anyone taught them to cook. So they have no energy, no time, and no knowledge -- what they know is Chef Boyardee, potato chips, TV dinners, and other convenience foods. Heck, when I have a day like today where my shop is slammed all day, it's all I can do to drag myself into my comfy chair. I can relate.

I'm sorta on the fence about food stamps. On one hand, I want to see people using this money responsibly, the way it was meant to be used. On the other hand, I'm not comfortable saying to someone 'You're poor, so you can't ever have the junk food and sodas that I would never deny myself'. It's one of those things where I don't know what's right, so I try to ignore the problem.

BTW, in California, I understand that we're not using "stamps" anymore which can be traded for drug money. Instead, people on food stamps are being issued debit cards, and their accounts credited by the government. I think this is a great idea, both because it makes the trafficing in food stamps impossible, and also because the person using the food stamps isn't obviously using food stamps, which helps protect their dignity just a little bit.

With WIC, I understand that what people can and can't buy is very, very limited. Is that true? As in, some cereals are okay, but others aren't?